Primarily to allow companies to calculate the cost of a promotion and the potential return on investment prior to committing to it, and to prevent unwanted costs from a promotion that is heavily redeemed. The two major techniques for achieving this are promotional risk insurance and fixed fee contracts.

A fixed fee promotion entails the promoter paying a risk management company a predetermined amount for the whole promotion. The contract limits the financial exposure to over-redemption for the client.

A fixed-fee promotion ensures the brand manager can allocate a specific budget. They can sleep soundly on the knowledge that, if the promotion redeems higher than expected, not only are the costs capped up front, the risk management company actually funds all costs of consumer redemption.

It’s essential the client has disclosed all the details of a promotion, in particular any past history of promotions, or there could be problems when it comes to a claim. Also with promotions cover, there may be cash flow issues for promoters awaiting settlement of a claim. With a fixed fee promotion, the money is paid up front, so effectively the cover for the promotion is paid for in advance. With promotions cover, the initial outlay is obviously less but the promoter will have to pay for the over-redemption out of its own pocket, then claim the money back afterwards from the insurer.

Risk managers would like to be involved from the outset but panic telephone calls to their offices a week before a promotion goes live, are not unusual. If they are involved at an early enough stage they can help tailor the risk in the promotion so that it comes in at the right budget for the promoter.